Performance Report
April 2017
Richard Bell, BBC iPlayer
BBC Communications
07725641207 | [email protected]
April 2017 summary
•
With 274 million requests for TV programmes in April, BBC iPlayer remains stable month-on-month, and much
stronger than April 2016, up +23%.
•
The four-part comedy series Peter Kay’s Car Share was the most requested programme with all four episodes
in the top five rankings and all episodes achieving over 2m requests each. The new series of Line of Duty
performed well with five episodes in the top ten rankings. EastEnders continued its strong performance in
April, with 10 appearances in the top 20. The new series of Doctor Who also made an impact, with Episode 1
delivering over 1m requests.
•
Three-part psychological thriller The Replacement was the most requested programme in March, as did
returning series Line of Duty, and new BBC Three series Clique.
•
NB this report also contains the top programmes for March because we did not release a report last month.
Consistent with previous months:
• The profile of devices being used to access BBC iPlayer has remained consistent with previous months,
with TV platforms by far the largest type of device.
• The profile of BBC iPlayer users has evened out over time in terms of male/female ratio, now showing a
slight female skew, but remains strongly under-55 in terms of age, which is younger than the typical TV
viewer’s profile (although more in line with home broadband users).
• BBC iPlayer is used for TV at roughly the same time of day as linear TV viewing, although there is
proportionally more daytime and later-peak use.
Slide 2
Index
Page
4-5
Content
Monthly BBC iPlayer TV programme requests
6
Weekly TV programme requests by device type
7
Live vs on-demand TV requests
8
Notes about the data in this report
9-10
Top TV programmes – latest months
11
Use of BBC iPlayer for TV viewing by time of day
12
Profile of BBC iPlayer users
13
Glossary
Slide 3
Monthly BBC iPlayer requests across all platforms, since 2009
There were 274 million requests for TV programmes on BBC iPlayer in April, remaining stable compared to March, and
an increase of +23% compared to the previous year.
Largest total
Millions of requests per month
TV requests
artificially
inflated*
Measurement
correction*
Data
missing*
274
183
205
222
222
140
97
108
55
Jan 09
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 10
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 11
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 12
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-13
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-14
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-15
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-16
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-17
Feb
Mar
Apr
45
DATA
SOURCE
CHANGE
monthly
requests to
date
Notes:
Source switched from iStats AV to Streamsense in Adobe Digital Analytix (iStats) in July 2016
* Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes on months with data caveats
Slide 4
Average daily BBC iPlayer online requests
TV requests
artificially
inflated*
Data
missing *
Measurement
correction*
Largest
average daily
requests to
date
DATA SOURCE
CHANGE
9.1
6.1
6.8
7.4
7.4
4.7
3.1
3.6
1.6 1.7
Jan 09
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 10
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 11
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 12
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-13
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-14
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-15
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-16
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-17
Feb
Mar
Apr
Millions of requests per day (average monthly)
There was an increase in average daily requests for TV content in April, up +3% overall and reaching 9.1m.
Notes:
Source switched from iStats AV to Streamsense in Adobe Digital Analytix (iStats) in July 2016
* Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes
Slide 5
Requests for TV programmes by device type
Requests on computers increased slightly from March to April, with all other devices showing a slight decline on the
previous month. TV devices remain the most popular screen on which to watch BBC iPlayer.
Number of requests (millions)
300
250
Millions
200
150
100
50
276
225222226
55
45
226
200203
36
77
72
60
605747
304
277
281
276 274
43 52
55 56
43 43
47 47
49 52
265 274271
255 253250
244
252
239
237
229232
222
210
143
125
88 63 71 74 73
54
53 52
43
57 55 55 56
47
43 48 48 46
72 79
53 53
132 128
123
123
70102 105
122
103
68
65
48 44 45
42 38 39
41
33 30 32 34
32 33 33
26 27 30
67
72
69 68 66 63 64 58 55 63 57 48 50
67 69 61 59
45
50 51 57 64
46 42
47 5243 46
39 42
38
70 68 68 72 72
66
70 71
57 60
100%
Unknown
TV devices 70%
60%
Tablet
50%
40%
Mobile
30%
20%
Computer 10%
0%
Jan-15
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-16
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-17
Feb
Mar
Apr
TV requests
inflated Sept 15
Notes:
Source switched from iStats AV to Streamsense in Adobe Digital Analytix (iStats) in July 2016
* Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes.
90%
80%
Jan-15
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-16
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan-17
Feb
Mar
Apr
0
TV requests
inflated
273
259
DATA
SOURCE
CHANGE
DATA
SOURCE
CHANGE
25%
22%
28%
20%
26%
22%
28%
18%
31%
21%
27%
16%
28%
19%
25%
19%
26%
19%
25%
23%
25%
20%
25%
24%
25%
20%
26%
23%
25%
19%
23%
24%
23%
16% 19%
32%
27%
19%
22%
25%
29%
19%
22%
28%
27%
19%
22%
29%
26%
19%
22%
29%
26%
18%
22%
30%
26%
16%
22%
32%
26%
18%
21%
31%
26%
18%
21%
31%
28%
18%
20%
31%
20% 11% 24%
44%
22% 12%
26%
39%
18% 11%
26%
44%
18% 11%
25%
46%
18% 11%
24%
45%
17% 11% 24%
47%
17% 11% 24%
47%
16% 12%
25%
46%
16% 12%
26%
45%
17% 12%
26%
45%
350
% of requests
Slide 6
38%
Live versus on-demand requests for TV programmes
The measurement update in July 2016 resulted in a clear step-change, with more accurate measurement of live TV requests
showing that they make up a larger proportion of the total number of requests to BBC iPlayer.
In April,16% of TV requests were for live TV viewing, decreasing slightly on March and in line with other figures across the second
half of 2016 (with the exception of August’s high of 28% due to the Rio Olympics content available to watch live on BBC
iPlayer).
% requests for TV programmes
Source switched from iStats AV to Streamsense in Adobe Digital Analytix (iStats) in July 2016
Slide 7
16%
84%
Apr
17%
83%
Mar
16%
84%
Feb
18%
82%
Jan-17
16%
84%
Dec
17%
83%
Nov
16%
84%
Oct
15%
85%
Sep
28%
72%
Aug
19%
81%
Jul
11%
89%
Jun
7%
93%
May
Notes:
* Please refer to slide 8 for guide notes.
7%
93%
Apr
7%
93%
93%
Feb
Mar
92%
Jan-16
7%
92%
Dec
8%
91%
Nov
8%
92%
Oct
9%
93%
Sep
8%
93%
Aug
7%
91%
Jul
7%
92%
Jun
9%
91%
May
8%
92%
Apr
9%
91%
Mar
8%
92%
Feb
9%
DATA SOURCE CHANGE
92%
8%
Simulcast
Jan-15
8%
On-demand
Notes for figures in this report
Data issues to note
• Figures for Virgin Cable and Sky are interim estimates for September 2016. Games console requests were undercounted in January 2016, and
Android devices were undercounted from 16th to 31 st March 2016.
• TV requests were inflated in August and September 2015 by around 18-25%, please treat these figures with caution when looking at trends.
• Some TV request data was not captured in March 2015 (estimated 17m requests). Some TV request data is also missing for 2014 - about 3.5m
requests in August and 11.5m requests in September from computer devices, and about 6m requests are missing in November, across all device
types. We are not including these estimates in the graphs in this report.
The remainder of this report excludes data from Virgin Media cable and Sky. The data arrives later than that from other platforms and is not
currently consolidated within BBC Digital Analytics systems.
These notes below apply to all the data in this pack and should be included as footnotes when quoting any of these figures. A glossary is on the
final page of the pack.
• Prior to July 2016, requests data was measured via a BBC in-house system (BBC iStats AV). Since July 2016 the source has changed to
StreamSense by Adobe Digital Analytix. Data is broadly comparable, and most step-changes are due to device categorisation correction, and
a small amount of data missing from BBC iStats AV (such as live TV viewing on TV platforms, and webcasts).
• In 2009 the BBC refined its methodology for measuring AV requests, so figures for 2007/8 are not comparable.
• Note on the top 20 lists for TV episodes: these show the most-requested individual episodes for the month, for interest, but only represent a
fraction of all the episodes available on iPlayer. They are indicative only, since they do not represent total request numbers per series, and are
only measured in the calendar month.
• Unless specified otherwise, figures include requests for both on-demand catch-up (streams and downloads), or views of live simulcasts. All data is
for the UK only. Requests are counted for BBC iPlayer on any BBC website or application – whether on a programme, channel or station page, or
on the BBC iPlayer websites or bespoke mobile or TV apps. This report does not include requests for web-only content (such as online news or
sport coverage). Webcasts are only included if they have been made available through BBC iPlayer. Figures in this report include requests for
programmes which are only on iPlayer, as well as for programmes previously shown on linear TV. On average this has boosted the totals by 2%
since 2014.
Slide 8
BBC iPlayer - top 20 TV episodes, April 2017
(excluding Virgin Media cable and Sky)
The four-part comedy series Peter Kay’s Car Share was the most requested programme with all four episodes in the top five
rankings and all episodes achieving over 2m requests each. The new series of Line of Duty performed well with five episodes in
the top ten rankings. Eastenders continued its strong performance in April, with 10 appearances in the top 20. The new series of
Doctor Who also made an impact, with Episode 1 delivering over 1m requests.
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – All
Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 Episode 3
Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 Episode 2
Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 Episode 1
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 2
Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 Episode 4
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 3
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 1
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 4
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 5
Doctor Who Series 10 The Pilot Episode 1
EastEnders 07/04/17
EastEnders 04/04/17
EastEnders 14/04/17
EastEnders 18/04/17
EastEnders 11/04/17
EastEnders 17/04/17
EastEnders 21/04/17
EastEnders 03/04/17
EastEnders 06/04/17
EastEnders 10/04/17
Please refer to slide 12 for guide notes
Total requests per ep.
2,411,000
2,353,000
2,298,000
2,246,000
2,173,000
2,091,000
1,986,000
1,843,000
1,430,000
1,196,000
1,082,000
1,064,000
1,063,000
1,050,000
1,045,000
1,028,000
1,026,000
1,025,000
1,016,000
1,000,000
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes –
most requested episode per series
Total requests per ep.
Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 Episode 3
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 2
Doctor Who Series 10 The Pilot Episode 1
EastEnders 07/04/17
Decline and Fall Series 1 Episode 1
Top Gear Series 24 Episode 5
Reported Missing Series 1 Episode 1
All Round to Mrs Brown's Series 1 Episode 2
I Shot My Parents I Shot My Parents
Clique Episode 5
The Last Kingdom Series 2 Episode 4
MasterChef Series 13 Episode 6
Casualty Series 31 When the Whistle Blows Episode 31
Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad
The FA Cup 2016/17 Semi-Final 22/04/17
Match of the Day 2016/2017 01/04/17
Have I Got News for You Series 53 Episode 1
Versailles Series 2 Episode 1
The Graham Norton Show Series 21 Episode 1
Golf: The Masters Live Final 09/04/2017
Slide 9
2,411,000
2,246,000
1,196,000
1,082,000
947,000
854,000
815,000
812,000
779,000
680,000
662,000
640,000
605,000
602,000
598,000
593,000
580,000
565,000
542,000
516,000
BBC iPlayer - top 20 TV episodes, March 2017
(excluding Virgin Media cable and Sky)
Three-part psychological thriller The Replacement was the most requested programme in March, with all three episodes at the
top of the table, and Episode 1 and 2 achieving over 2m requests each. Top Gear performed well with the first episode also
gaining over 1m requests, as did returning series Line of Duty, and new BBC Three series Clique. Red Nose Day Episode 2, which
contained the Love Actually sequel Red Nose Day Actually, also did well.
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes – All
The Replacement Series 1 Episode 1
The Replacement Series 1 Episode 2
The Replacement Series 1 Episode 3
EastEnders 09/03/2017 Part Two
Top Gear Series 24 Episode 1
EastEnders 23/03/17
Comic Relief 2017 Red Nose Day Episode 2
Clique Episode 1
EastEnders 09/03/2017 Part One
EastEnders 17/03/2017 Part Two
EastEnders 21/03/2017 Part Two
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 1
EastEnders 03/03/17
EastEnders 07/03/17
EastEnders 02/03/17
EastEnders 14/03/17
EastEnders 28/03/17
Top Gear Series 24 Episode 2
Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad 28/03/17
EastEnders 17/03/2017 Part One
Please refer to slide 12 for guide notes
Total requests per ep.
2,417,000
2,049,000
1,617,000
1,288,000
1,231,000
1,115,000
1,106,000
1,084,000
1,078,000
1,058,000
1,055,000
1,039,000
1,025,000
1,020,000
1,012,000
1,007,000
988,000
974,000
957,000
939,000
BBC iPlayer Top 20 TV episodes –
most requested episode per series
Total requests per ep.
The Replacement Series 1 Episode 1
EastEnders 09/03/2017 Part Two
Top Gear Series 24 Episode 1
Comic Relief 2017 Red Nose Day Episode 2
Clique Episode 1
Line of Duty Series 4 Episode 1
Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad 28/03/17
Call the Midwife Series 6 Episode 8
The FA Cup 2016/17 Quarter-Final: 13/03/2017
The Last Kingdom Series 2 Episode 1
Stacey Dooley Investigates Young Sex for Sale in Japan
All Round to Mrs Brown's Series 1 Episode 1
Not Going Out Series 8 Episode 7
SS-GB Series 1 Episode 3
Taboo Episode 8
My Unusual Vagina
Match of the Day 2016/2017 04/03/17
Roots Episode 4
Casualty Series 31 Episode 26
The Dumping Ground Series 5 Episode 8
Slide 10
2,417,000
1,288,000
1,231,000
1,106,000
1,084,000
1,039,000
957,000
872,000
868,000
843,000
760,000
743,000
680,000
644,000
634,000
578,000
562,000
558,000
549,000
549,000
BBC iPlayer – use for TV online by time of day, April 2017
TV viewers
TV peak –
24.2 million
Internet peak –
28.4 million
BBC iPlayer TV requests
BBC iPlayer peak –
729,000
Sources – TV from BARB April 2017, internet from Nielsen March 2012,
BBC iPlayer from Streamsense Adobe Digital Analytix (iStats) April 2017 see footnotes on
final page for more detail
Please refer to slide 12 for guide notes
Slide 11
05:00
04:00
03:00
02:00
01:00
00:00
23:00
22:00
21:00
20:00
19:00
18:00
17:00
16:00
15:00
14:00
13:00
12:00
11:00
10:00
09:00
08:00
07:00
Internet users (any website)
06:00
Note: each line has a very different scale
(see peaks)
The scale for each line on this graph is different – traditional TV viewing is far higher than BBC iPlayer use. However it
shows the relative usage pattern by time of day – with BBC iPlayer use (for TV) being closer to the pattern of TV
viewing, than of internet use, with proportionally more viewing in daytime and late peak.
TV & iPlayer Product: demographics of BBC iPlayer users
100%
2014
2016
2017
16%
42%
18%
38%
18%
37%
19%
35%
23%
39%
22%
39%
21%
40%
2010
2011
2012
2013
42%
2013
45%
2012
16-34
45%
2011
35-54
46%
50%
2010
20%
37%
48%
2015
0%
METHOD
CHANGE
IN 2014
55+
40%
39%
50%
52%
51%
52%
52%
57%
20%
Men
60%
40%
40%
Women
39%
60%
80%
43%
50%
52%
50%
48%
49%
49%
48%
80%
100%
44%
100%
19%
In 2016, BBC iPlayer skewed slightly more towards women for the first time, and remains strongly under 55 in terms of age.
2014
2015
2016
2017
0%
Age (latest 4 quarters)
Gender (latest 4 quarters)
100%
17%
80%
51%
51%
51%
60%
Women
40%
33%
80%
51%
Men
60%
37%
36%
39%
55+
35%
40%
33%
34%
35-54
16-34
20%
49%
49%
49%
49%
0%
20%
44%
32%
30%
30%
Home
broadband
users
All TV viewers
All Radio
Listeners
0%
Users of BBC
iPlayer
Home
broadband
users
All TV viewers
All Radio
Listeners
Sources: ART (1000 UK adults each month) or CMI from Q1 14 onwards / BARB.
Data up to Q1 2017, RAJAR Q4 16
Users of BBC
iPlayer
Slide 12
Glossary
• Requests – the number of successful requests to stream or download a programme. We only count successful requests, where
a stream or a download actually starts, rather than “clicks” which can be repeated if the user does not see an immediate
reaction on the website. Requests are made up of two components:
• Stream – click to play instantly
• Download – save to your device to play later. We report download playback, rather than downloads, where possible.
• Catch-up / on-demand – programmes requested after they have gone out on traditional TV and are available on BBC iPlayer.
• Live / simulcast – streaming of live TV channels on the service, at exactly the same time as broadcast on traditional TV. Since
May 2016, this data also includes webcasts of live events that are available through BBC iPlayer but not available on linear TV.
Extra footnotes for slides showing data for time of day
• TV data – BARB average audience, live overnights, by hour, all individuals aged 4+, Total TV
• BBC iPlayer - average requests, by hour, all programmes, stream & downloading, live and on-demand, UK only
• Nielsen – user numbers, aged 2+ based on internet population estimate of 38 million individuals
Slide 13